


stratospheric strays

by imposterhuman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wings, Bucky Feels, Bucky needs a hug, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Little bit of angst, M/M, Prosthetics, Tony Feels, Tony Needs a Hug, Wingfic, but its mostly fluffy i swear, let my boys be happy 2k19, mentions of torture, so does bucky, tony has prosthetic wings, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 08:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18427157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: tony and bucky met on the roof, sometimes, their broken parts gleaming in place of feathers in the sun





	stratospheric strays

**Author's Note:**

> title from "dasher" by gerard way
> 
> my first attempt at a wingfic, hope you like! ive had this idea for awhile, might expand on it if i get positive feedback
> 
> enjoy!

The yawning blue expanse of the sky called to Tony from where he perched on the landing pad of the Tower. It wasn’t that he didn’t like flying; the opposite, really. He loved the rush of wind in his ears, the plummeting feeling of free fall stopped by a quick snap of powerful wings. He longed to let the air rustle his feathers, to lift him higher and make him weightless. 

 

He just...  _ couldn't _ . Flying since Afghanistan had brought him nothing but disgust, staring at the metal where soft feathers should have been. The Ten Rings had not been kind, clipping his wings while Yinsen scraped shrapnel out of his chest cavity. They had left him crippled, so he had fixed himself. On the surface, at least, he was whole, but more of him was lost to that cave than just his sternum.

 

His metal wings were operational. Arguably, they were better than his original wings. But he missed his feathers and hated that he couldn’t feel them anymore. Flying without the suit was just like flying in it, at the end of the day; his prosthetic wings didn’t have nerve endings or sensation. They were fast, deadly, and  completely lifeless. He couldn’t preen, couldn’t make the wing gestures that everyone else could. No, they were strictly for flight (and to remind him he wasn’t irreversibly damaged; the three months he had spent without their comforting weight on his back had broken something deep inside him). 

 

His wings didn’t twitch or fly up in conversation, no matter how much his instincts wanted them to. They didn’t so much as flutter in fright when Bucky Barnes appeared out of nowhere and sat down next to him.

 

Bucky was like him; HYDRA had taken his ability to fly when he was first captured, clipping one one of his wings to stop his escape (and as a sick reminder, but they didn’t talk about that). When he became the Winter Soldier, they took them off completely and replaced it with razor-sharp blades as feathers, more suitable for death than flying. Tony, of course, had seen it and deemed it utterly unsuitable. It was heavy and painful-looking and installed terribly. It was an affront to technology that Tony had to fix. 

 

He had offered Bucky a prosthetic wing, just like his own, arc reactor powered and deceptively strong. Not in red and gold, of course, because that was Tony’s trademark. No, Bucky’s wing was a match to his natural deep navy, detailed down to the white flecks of his original. He had thought Bucky was going to cry, assassin training be damned, when he accepted.

 

“If you fall off the roof, I’m going to laugh at you for years,” Bucky said, sitting almost close enough to touch. His wing was gleaming in the afternoon sun like molten metal, reminding Tony that he wasn’t the only one missing something anymore. “Ten years from now, I will bring up the time you fell from the top of the Tower because you were too deep in your head.” There was an undertone of concern in his teasing.

 

“And I will counter with the time you walked into a wall because you were looking at pictures of kittens,” Tony smiled warmly, shifting slightly away from the edge to ease Bucky’s mind (even though they both knew he could still fly  _ and  _ JARVIS would never let him fall). “No one will ever trust your assassin skills again.”

 

“Doll, I took out sixteen of those slime creatures last week with only a spoon,” Bucky pointed out. “I don’t think anyone’s doubting them now.”

 

“So you say, yet no one saw it happen.”

 

“And JARVIS  _ accidentally  _ lost the footage?”

 

“What can I say?” Tony shrugged. “He’s flaky like that.”

 

Bucky shoved his shoulder lightly. “Sure he is,” he said. “It’s not like he’s the world’s most advanced AI, made by one of the smartest people alive. He’s just a normal AI, like Siri. Or Alexa.”

 

“Get out of my Tower,” Tony squawked indignantly. Part of him was preening at the praise while the rest of him was puffing up in opposition to Bucky’s taunts “How dare you slander JARVIS this way?”

 

“I’m so sorry,” Bucky said, trying and failing to control his laughter. “It’s just… your face right now.”

 

“And what’s wrong with my face?” Tony raised a haughty brow. 

 

Bucky leaned in close, close enough that their noses were almost touching. “Nothing much. It’s too damn pretty,” he breathed, more serious than they had been before. “Makes it hard to focus, that’s all. Especially when you’re smiling like that.”

 

“Focus is overrated,” Tony said, dazed. His lips were inches away from Bucky’s, their breaths mingling in the near silence of the roof.

 

“Oh, really?” Bucky leaned in a smidge closer, clearly determined to draw things out if his teasing smirk was anything to go by.

 

Tony rolled his eyes. “Really,” he said, surging the rest of the way forward and catching Bucky in a kiss. One of Bucky’s massive wings sprung up, wrapping around them like a protective cocoon. Bucky deepened the kiss, heedless of their precarious balance on the edge of the roof.

 

It was over far too soon, both of them pulling away for breath. Tony rested his forehead against Bucky’s, content to just stay there in the moment. Bucky leaned in for another soft kiss, chaste and sweet. His smile against Tony’s lips was utterly dopey, making Tony's heart fill to bursting with something that felt a lot like love.

 

“Wanna fly with me?” Bucky offered. It was the same offer he always extended that Tony always declined, still not ready to show off a part of himself that was so vulnerable and broken. He still asked, though, making something flutter to life in Tony’s chest. If he could still make the motions, Tony knew his wings wound be spread wide and hopeful. 

 

Tony looked at the metal of his wings, echoed in Bucky’s own. The sky, growing darker in the dwindling evening sun, was empty of other fliers. They'd be alone in the sky, two broken men pieced back together by metal and blood and tears.

 

He rolled his shoulders, feeling the remnants of his wing muscles tense in preparation. If the unyielding metal could, his wings would be shivering with equal parts delight and fear.

 

“Let’s race to the bridge,” said Tony, spreading his glinting wings. The naked surprise and love on Bucky’s face made the nerves coiling in his gut worth it. “I bet I’ll beat you.”

 

Bucky grinned, sizing him up. “No way,” he decided. 

 

“Loser buys dinner, then,” Tony grinned back. “When I win, I want cheeseburgers.” 

 

“You’ll be buying your own damn cheeseburgers,” Bucky swore. “Count of three?”

 

Tony smirked, throwing himself off of the Tower and letting his red and gold wings flare out and catch him with a powerful snap. The air felt freeing in a way it hadn't in years, not when he was flying alone. Bucky jumped a moment later than him, but Tony was already rocketing away. “Why wait?” 

**Author's Note:**

> and they flew into the sunset and lived happily ever after the end
> 
> i hope you liked it!! comments and kudos make my day <3


End file.
